Black Americans and those of lower socioeconomic classes are less likely to receive requested therapy appointments, creating another source of disparity in mental health care, according to a behavioral research report.
A study published June 1 in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior showed that middle-class Black participants experienced higher rates of racial discrimination over their White counterparts who were three times more likely to receive scheduled appointments over working class African Americans.
“The fact that this study uncovers discrimination in the private mental health care marketplace is consistent with previous audit studies that have revealed discrimination in other marketplaces, such as housing and employment,” Heather Kugelmass, author of the study and a doctoral student in sociology at Princeton University, said in the report, noting that her research provided insight into ordinarily private exchanges that may subtly perpetuate disadvantage.
During the experiment, “potential clients” called 640 New York therapists with the same scripted message. The calls varied in that actors used different forms of vocabulary, slang, grammar and names that could be perceived as “Caucasian,” such as “Amy Roberts” or “ethnic,” such as “Latoya Johnson” to reflect class and race, according to CNN.
“Psychotherapists are not immune to the same stereotypes that we all have, and I think they could become even more relevant for psychotherapists than for other professions because they are embarking on this intimate, potentially long-term relationship with these ,” Kugelmass said as quoted by CNN.
Researchers waited one week for returned phone calls and results showed that actors posing as middle-class Black women and men were, respectively, 30 percent and 60 percent less likely than their White counterparts to receive appointments. The study also found working class women and men, regardless of race, were 70 percent and 80 percent less likely to receive appointments in general.